Why I am a Champion for this Cause

I’ve been a supporter and Board member of the Ithaca Health Alliance for many years, because I believe that everyone is entitled to health care. The Health Alliance and its Free Clinic are great examples of community members helping each other to live healthier, better lives.

If we lived in a country with a national health care system, we might not need the Health Alliance and the Ithaca Free Clinic. I’ve been lucky enough to have employer-provided health insurance for most of my life, and when I didn’t, I was eligible for Medicaid in the past and now Medicare. But in both my personal and work lives I’ve met many people who earned just too much to qualify for Medicaid but couldn’t afford the cost of health insurance or much-needed medical treatment. Most of those who use Free Clinic services are working people who fall into this gap. The Free Clinic helps meet the basic human need for health care, and the need is growing. By providing both traditional medical and holistic treatment options, the Free Clinic allows patients choices about the care they receive.

In June of this year, the Ithaca Free Clinic served a record breaking number of patients and provided 320 visits, a 150% increase over our previous monthly average. We have a wonderful crew of volunteer health care providers and a small, hard-working staff. But they can’t do it alone. The Health Alliance has an urgent need to raise funds to sustain the Free Clinic at this increased capacity. That’s why we’ve launched the Be a Health Ally! fundraising campaign, which will last for the month of August.

During this month, I’ve set myself a personal challenge of improving my health and Tai Chi practice by doing as many danyus (a Tai Chi exercise) as my age every day. So I’ll be doing 68 danyus every day during the month of August, for a total of 2,108 danyus. Please donate what you can (a penny for each danyu? or whatever you can afford ) to help me reach my personal goal and help the Ithaca Health Alliance make our community a better place to live! For more information about the Ithaca Health Alliance, go to http://ithacahealthally.peaksoverpoverty.org